News A Palooza 7/26/17

posted by Mike Bell -
Jul 26, 2017

The controversial Ronnie James Dio hologram will hit the road on November 30th in Helsinki, Finland.

The trek wraps up on December 21st in The Netherlands, with festival dates on tap for the U.S. and elsewhere in 2018. The hologram uses audio of Dio's live performances from throughout his career with live backing by the Official Dio Band, the new name for the group of former Dio musicians called Dio Disciples.

Wendy Dio and the production company behind the hologram say that the "Dio" set will be different from show to show. The Official Dio Band will also perform with vocalists Tim "Ripper" Owens and Oni Logan at various dates.

Geddy Lee of Rush is using his photography skills to raise money for the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

The CWF is selling 150 limited-edition numbered and autographed prints of a Orange Breasted Sunbird taken by Lee during a trip to South Africa in February. The "Rush of Nature" prints will each sell for $150 as part of CWF’s Canada 150 celebration. They'll go on sale through the CWF's online shop at midnight Saturday, which is Lee's 64th birthday.

Lee also put out a limited-edition print for the CWF last year.

Nikki Sixx underwent his second surgery of the year on Tuesday.

This time Sixx went under the knife for a torn rotator cuff and bicep that he said he got from "breaking guitars." The Motley Crue and Sixx A.M. bassist posted two post-surgery photos and said that "the doctor did a great job."

Sixx's first surgery of the year came back in April when he had a hip replacement.

Stone Temple Pilots' debut album, Core, will be reissued on September 29th to mark its 25th anniversary.

It will be available as just the remastered album; a two-disc version that adds nine unreleased demos, the acoustic MTV Headbanger's Ball version of "Plush" and the re-recorded version of "Creep" released as a single in 1993; and a four-CD, DVD and LP super-deluxe version that adds two live shows, their MTV Unpluggedperformance, a 5.1 mix of the album and all the videos from that era.

Core was released on September 29th, 1992. It went on to sell more than eight-million copies and spun off four rock hits -- "Sex Type Thing," "Plush," "Wicked Garden" and "Creep."

Show Biz Buzz...

Netflix has picked up Matt Groening's animated comedy Disenchantment. The series from the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama is described as "an adult fantasy about a crumbling medieval kingdom known as Dreamland," according to Variety. The first 10 episodes are set to premiere next year.

Leonardo DiCaprio is developing a TV series based of author Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff for National Geographic. The book was adapted as a feature film in 1983.

Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Mad Max: Fury Road) is in talks to star as Lord of the Rings writer J.R.R. Tolkien in Tolkien. Variety says it "focuses on the author as he finds friendship, love, and artistic inspiration among a group of classmates prior to the outbreak of World War I in 1914."

The Modern Family kids are celebrating their big raise ahead of the show's ninth season.

Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Sarah Hyland and Rico Rodriguez have signed new deals to stay on the show for another two years and will earn $100,000 per episode. The two youngest kids, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons and Jeremy Maguire, are still under their original contracts. The adult members of the cast will earn $500,000 per episode for the next season, which they will begin shooting next month. (People)